One of Those Days
by Brainiac5
Summary: You guessed it, another Exo-Force fic! When the Exo-Force team is left without Sensei Keiken to diffuse tension and things start going wrong, how long will it take them to actually work together? Someone other than Asterisk78 please read these! please?
1. So Long, Sensei Keiken

**Chapter 1: So long, Sensei Keiken**

_**-Ryo-**_

"Do you have to leave, Sensei? You know it's not safe," Hikaru urged, frowning at the thought of Sensei Keiken leaving the Golden City, even for just a short time.

"I leave every year in this exact month on the exact same day to take part in this event," Sensei Keiken said, addressing me and the other four Exo-Force pilots standing just to my right. "I'm not just going to give up on it this year."

"But Sensei, the robots--" Takeshi began before Sensei Keiken interrupted him with a stony glare. After a moment, Takeshi's mouth closed and he glanced at the floor.

A half-smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, Sensei continued. "As you know Hitomi, you will be in charge while I am gone. It shouldn't be difficult to contact me, and I'll only be gone for a week, at the most." Sensei Keiken smiled. "I think you can handle it."

Slowly Hitomi nodded, looking slightly concerned. "We'll be careful, Grandfather," She assured him. The other pilots, including myself, joined her in nodding.

"But…" Ha-Ya-To said, still nodding, "You be careful too, okay?"

Sensei Keiken raised an eyebrow. "Have I ever _not_ been careful?"

Ha-Ya-To shrugged. "Point taken," He finally acquiesced. "Have fun."

"This is for learning," Sensei said, "But all the same, yes, I will have fun. Thank you."

"What if the computer tells me where another one of the codes are?" I asked. "Should we wait, or…"

Sensei Keiken smiled at me. "Ah, a valuable question indeed. Well, Hitomi can send a retrieval team, but she will _not_ go herself," He said pointedly, sending Hitomi a stern look.

"But grandfather--"Hitomi began, eager to argue when Sensei cut her off.

"That was an order, granddaughter," He said firmly.

There's no arguing with Sensei when he talks like that. The five of us bowed slightly and Sensei waved a hand in our direction. "You can go back to your regular duties. I will be leaving in the morning."

* * *

The next morning after Sensei had departed, I sat in front of the large computer, grinned and cracked my knuckles. It was slightly primitive-looking on the outside, but the designs and schematics inside more than made up for the deceptive exterior. Everything about it was…unique, amazing.

Grinning, I pulled up a window and glanced at the design the computer had stored in it's large databanks. It looked like a fun project, and I couldn't wait to get it put together for Hikaru to test-fly. Smiling, I quickly printed part of the diagram and glanced around for my toolbox.

"Weird," I muttered, frowning anxiously. "I could have sworn I left it in here…" I quickly headed out of the lab and around the corner. "Oh… hello, Ha-Ya-To," I said, screeching to a halt. "Excuse me, please," I said. "My tools aren't where I left them."

"Where would that be? Scattered all over the floor?" Ha-Ya-To snickered.

I sighed and stepped around him. "I have everything organized," I said, "Just not organized in… well, containers. I organize the floor-- I'm a visual designer, it isn't my fault that…" I sighed, realizing Ha-Ya-To was already walking away. "Fine, don't mind me, I'm just validating my need to see everything I've got, whether I need it at the moment or not. It's not _my _fault I work _six steps ahead!"_ I half-shouted, hoping he could still hear me. Rolling my eyes, I once more jogged down the corridor for my tools…

* * *

_**-Hikaru-**_

It was so frustrating I couldn't even find words to describe the way I felt. And because sputtering is obviously not an option, I strode all the way to Ryo's lab in utter silence. When I arrived, however, Ryo didn't seem to be in a much better mood. Without glancing up, he barked a sharp "get out" and tried to throw something at me. He hasn't done anything like that in a long time, so I almost left… almost. But this problem was a big one.

"Ryo," I started.

"What part of 'get out' don't you understand?!" Ryo demanded, whipping his head around, hair flying. His eyebrows were practically tucked behind the bridge of his nose, his frown was so intense. A smoldering gaze ran up and down my grease-stained Pilot's uniform and then snapped back to my face. "What," He demanded, "Is your problem?"

I almost left right then and there, his face looked so mad. I almost feared for my life, he definitely looked capable of biting my head off at the moment. But then again, if I didn't face him now and tell him what was wrong, he'd probably hate me forever and blame me for whatever happened after I _didn't _tell him. "Something weird is going on with the controls in half of the Battle Machine cockpits," I said quickly. "I don't want anyone to be hurt, so I thought I'd tell you."

"Go tell Hitomi," Ryo muttered. "I'm right in the middle of something."

"What's Hitomi going to do?" I demanded.

Ryo grumbled something under his breath.

"She's going to tell you to fix it," I answered my own question, walking forward. "I don't know what's going on, but you need to fix it."

"I _can't!!_" Ryo shouted. "Can't you see that?! What do you think I'm doing, twiddling my thumbs?!"

I blinked. "This is a little more important than one of your toys," I snapped. Couldn't he see that if the Robots attacked while our Battle Machines were down…

Ryo jumped to his feet, chest heaving. "What did you say?!" He demanded, eyes burning with rage. "Say it again!" He screamed, grabbing the lapels of my pilot suit and shaking me.

I glared back at him defiantly. He didn't scare me, the little twerp. Besides, what was he going to do, hit me? Please. Staring at him, I repeated a little more firmly, "I said, this is more important than--" With a blow I could feel all the way down my spine, Ryo slammed a fist into my jaw, sending my head flying backwards and landing me on the floor. With a shriek, Ryo jumped on me, slamming his fists into my face.

"Hey, hey-- ow!" I grabbed his arms and pushed him off of me, wiping my mouth and tasting the salty-coppery flavor of blood. "What's wrong with you?!" I shouted, "Are you _trying_ to kill me?!"

Ryo's chest was heaving. "No. Yes. Maybe," He snapped. "Were you the one who hacked into my security system?!" He shouted.

"Who did what?" I asked.

"Someone hacked into my security system!" Ryo screamed. "It's down-- communications are out, and we don't have any power-- we're totally helpless-- and I can't find where or when the sabotage occurred, because the computer's down-- what am I saying? Everything's down!" With a glare, Ryo stepped forward and pulled me to my feet. "There you are," He snapped, "That's why your controls aren't working. The hacking messed up the circuits of most of the computers in here." Then, with a moan of despair and anguish, Ryo dropped to his knees, cradling his head. "Failure… everywhere. Every single computer hooked up to the mainframe was… I don't even know what happened to them."

I blinked. "But… the power's on," I said, glancing at the lights above our heads. Yes, they were definitely on…

"It was a surge," Ryo said, "Local. Only messed with the computers and communication. Maybe it was a spike… I can't know for sure." With a groan, the Engineer thunked his head on the cement floor.

I'd never seen him look so… beaten. Or confused. Hunkering down next to him, I put a hand on his shoulder. "I-I'm sorry," I muttered. "I didn't know."

"If I say get out, I mean get out," Ryo murmured weakly. "I need to think."

"I'll help," I said, not even sure why I said so.

"The best way you can help," Ryo said, "Is follow the coordinates to the latest code. I printed them out before working on one of the blueprints we got from the last code- then I left to find my tools and when I came back… everything was kaput!" He flung his arms out in a helpless gesture, almost hitting me. "Oops… sorry," He apologized, pulling his arms back to his sides. "It…I just…" With a sigh, Ryo shook his head. "At least some of the old machines are still functional-- they weren't linked to the Mainframe."

"Like…" I hinted, staring at his face.

"Oh, Stealth Hunter, Uplink, you know," He said. "That kind of old."

"Wow," I said, "When you said old, you really meant _Sentai Fortress_ kind of old."

Ryo glared at me. "I _don't_ exaggerate. When are you going to figure that out?!"

I folded my arms. "So sorry I'm not a mind-reader," I snapped.

"You don't have the brain to support that kind of ability anyway," Ryo shot back.

"Oh yeah?!" I snapped, trying to reign in my anger. _Calm down,_ my rational side said, _He doesn't mean it like that._

"Yeah!" Ryo shouted. "Go away, you with a minimal IQ!"

"My IQ isn't low, lamebrain, just shut up!" I snarled.

"What makes you think I wanted to talk to you anyway?!" Ryo snapped.

"Then why are you still talking to me, _Mr. gray matter_?!" I hissed.

"Your intellect is rivaled only by the chemical waste discarded during the production of battle machines!"

"Your mother was a robot!" I snapped back.

"At least she didn't resemble a large rodent!" Ryo shouted, waving a screwdriver in my direction.

After parrying insults back and forth for another few minutes, we'd both had enough. Ryo started screaming and throwing things, and I stomped out, smoke practically billowing from my ears.

It was _not_ turning out to be a very good day, but at least I didn't believe it could get any worse…

Unfortunately, it did.

* * *

A/N: Okay, well, whadja think? I don't even know why i'm bothering-- no one is reading these anyway. but that doesn't matter, because reading isn't really the point. however, I have a standard of quality I hold myself to-- I'm not going to just throw together junk -Although the themesong fic was pretty cose- because I don't want a junky exo-force section. However, if I'm the only one writing, I think this might take awhile! Come on, exo-force lovers! Even if you don't, just go to and click on exo-force! I promise it's awesome. Check the profiles! Read the comics! maybe you'll like someone other than Ryo and they won't all be centered around the nerd! (though I try and include everyone-- I keep noticing that the 'born-leader stuck-up snooty hero types are usually the voted favorites-- take Jayko from Knight's Kingdom for instance, or Tahu in the Toa Nuva. It's so biased-- let's get some authors out there who like the more interesting characters! (in my opinioin)

Um, sorry for the spiel... Review anyway.


	2. And things get worse

**Chapter 2: And things get worse…**

_**-Ryo-**_

Hitomi stared at me, the shock of my news forcing her to sit down suddenly. "No communications. No surveillance. No… no nothing?!" She cried, looking ready to pull her hair out. I knew the feeling very well, and I didn't like it any better than she did.

"Exactly," I sighed. "I'm not even sure what's wrong."

"Oh, that's even better," She snapped. "This is just perfect. And none of the battle machines are working?"

"None of the new ones that were being updated," I replied. "the surge scrambled all data. Their systems all look like Takeshi's attempt at sloppy joes."

Hitomi winced. "Ew."

I nodded. "Exactly. The one thing I'm hoping is that if we can find the code and feed it in--"

"Code? What code?" Hitomi demanded.

"Oh. I got the coordinates for the next code's location just before the crash," I said. "So, if maybe someone could go find it…"

"We'll need someone with map and compass training," Hitomi muttered. "You said the computers aren't working."

"Not on the new ones," I clarified. "Uplink and… um… well, one Silent Strike are the only battle machines that weren't hooked up to the computer."

"But those ones aren't updated about the new robot machines," Hitomi said.

"Oh, they are, I had just decided to input the information manually," I said. "They weren't hooked up to the Mainframe, that's all."

"You just decided," Hitomi said doubtfully, giving me a look. "I thought all machines were supposed to be hooked up to the mainframe, and if not that, they were supposed to be… scrapped…" Her scowl deepened. "Ryo!" She turned on me with a glare of keen contempt. "You've been wasting our money, holding on to useless robots!" She snapped.

"Not useless!" I argued. "They're going to save Exo-Force's butt!"

Hitomi continued to stare at me with that smoldering look of hers. "You held back necessary equipment," She snapped.

"But… well, can we talk about this when we're not in the middle of a crisis?!" I pleaded. "Because, we're kind of in the middle of a crisis right now, and if we don't _do_ something before…" I sighed. "I don't even know where I'm going with this."

Hitomi frowned. "All right, here's the plan. You and Hikaru are going to find that code…now. And I _do_ mean _now._"

I nodded. "Yeah… wait, Hikaru?" I felt a worm of nervousness squiggle in my stomach.

"Yes. I mean, the only Battle Machines left are Silent Strike and Uplink so obviously… are you even listening to me?!" Hitomi demanded.

I nodded. "Yeah, I was just planning our route. So it's me and Hikaru, me in Uplink, Hikaru in Silent Strike, right?"

Hitomi nodded. "Be careful, okay? The Robots have much badder machines than you do, especially in those old things."

"Uplink is awesome!" I shot back. "And she's great for… Wait, badder?" I said suddenly, realizing her grammar had taken a turn for the worse.

"Yes, 'badder'. Meaner. Tougher. Better. _Badder._" Hitomi clarified. "Be careful out there, okay? I don't want to have to explain to Sensei that I sent you and Hikaru to your doom in low-standard Battle Machines."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," I muttered. Then what she'd said hit me. "_Low-standard?!_ Uplink isn't-"

"Never _mind_, Ryo," Hitomi snapped. "Just get Hikaru and the two of you work out your little spat and find that _code_…preferably _before_ Sensei gets back, or the robots attack."

I nodded. "Got it," I said, turning on my heel and walking out of the room. The moment I was in the hall, I threw on the afterburners and sped down the hallway towards the mess, the most likely location to find Hikaru.

* * *

When my trip to the mess hall remained unfruitful, I checked Hikaru's room… plenty of clothes and things scattered around, but no banana. Next on the list of likely places was the rec room. I found Ha-Ya-To and Takeshi butchering 3d chess, but no Hikaru. I checked the mess again for good measure, but no Hikaru. Plenty of bananas, but no Hikaru.

Finally I headed down to the hangar. I was about ready to pull out my own hair and dunk my head in a vat of joint fluid if I didn't find him…If I could find a vat of joint fluid, that is. Sure enough, when I got there, _no Hikaru!_ Fortunately, there was no vat of joint fluid either.

After having looked everywhere I thought possible, I finally gave up. I was leaving, headed for my lab in mindless desperation. Maybe Hikaru was trying to find me. Not that he had any reason to, but I'd run out of options.

At least, until I heard the whirring, clanging sounds of an Exo-force machine moving. I froze and spun around in time to see the old Silent Strike glide out of the hangar in near-silence. I actually managed to pull out a good-sized clump of hair before the pain set in.

Apparently Hikaru had decided to strike out alone, since the coordinates were already programmed into the two battle machines.

Sometimes I really want to kill that guy.

Dashing all the way back across the hangar, around several tool crates, over a barrel of fuel on top of an unsteady pile of spare parts, I finally reached the far end of the Hangar. Dragging myself up to the cockpit of Uplink, I hauled myself inside and flicked the power button to 'on'. "It's time to power up," I muttered, glaring in the direction Hikaru had exited. No communications, which meant I couldn't even scream at him-- insult to injury! This day was going from bad to worse in a tailspin no pilot could dream of pulling out of.

I burst out of the Hangar at a solid run, anger burning brighter with every step. Rapidly, I made my way out of the Golden city and then checked the coordinates, which seemed to show the location of the code in a more arid location… lots of gullies and dry streambeds to fall into. Uplink and I would have to be careful. Shaking my head, I slowed down and forced back the last bit of irritation down. Time enough for that later. Right now, I had a mission.

* * *

_**-Hikaru-**_

While cautiously piloting Silent Strike over the desert region, I carefully consulted the coordinates once more before turning to face… a cave. A very tiny cave. A very tiny cave that Silent Strike couldn't ever fit into. Great. Sighing, I rolled my eyes and checked the coordinates again to make sure.

Yup, the code was _definitely_ in that cave. Shaking my head, I turned and landed Silent Strike, walking over to an overhang where it would be difficult to spot, shrouded in shadows and tucked into this alcove. I powered down and hopped out. Glancing around, I frowned at a dead lizard in front of the cave. Weird. I didn't think I'd seen that before, but then, I hadn't really been looking for it in Silent Strike…

I started walking towards the cave when the ground started shaking. What the-- the first thing that came to my mind was an earthquake. I jumped away from the cave and backed into the middle of the gully, then backed further away from the overhang where Silent Strike was, just to be sure and stay out of the way of falling rocks.

It was a good thing I did, because just as I backed up, I noticed an Orange Battle machine sliding down the steep ridge, hop off and skid to a halt on the rocky ground, sending dust and small rocks flying.

Uplink. Even better.

* * *

A/N: Okay, so originally this chapter was a half-page longer, but chapter three was too short, so I stopped here instead.

Really, if you're taking the time to read this, go to the Exo-Force website, check out the cool things going on over there (the comics take a long time to load on dial-up, be forewarned) and then write a story or two! Join me in my backhanded boycott! Let us flood the miscellaneous books section until... I don't know, until someone figure out how to make an exo-force section. Maybe I should make (or is it take?) a poll or something...

Hmm. I'll keep thinking on that, and you can continue reading-- enjoy!! (And remember, reviews are ALWAYS appreciated. It's nice to know someone's actually reading, comprende? Wakarimasu? Hai? okies, I'm done now.)


	3. The Cave

**Chapter 3: The Cave**

_**-Hikaru-**_

I rolled my eyes in Ryo's direction and turned to enter the cave. Couldn't he just leave me alone and let me do something by myself this time? He was the one who'd ruined my day anyway, did he have to ruin my mission too?! Growling in frustration, I tried to get near the cave entrance. However, before I could, Ryo piloted Uplink in such a way that his infernal Battle Machine's foot stepped directly in my path-- effectively blocking off the cave entrance.

With a growl of frustration, I shook my fist at Ryo in the cockpit, hoping he could hear me. "What in the world is wrong with you?! I'm just getting the code for you! It isn't a crime!"

Ryo either heard me, or he was a great lip reader. I wasn't exactly sure which, but either way, his response was a verbal jab in all the wrong places. "It would be a far more terrible misdeed to allow you to place yourself in unnecessary danger than to allow you to continue on in your present condition," Ryo replied, turning around in Uplink's cockpit to look for something.

"What do you mean?!" I snapped angrily, shaking my fist again. "The only danger I see is you jumping down a cliff with Uplink when you could just come down on that side down there!" I snapped, pointing down the gully about two hundred yards.

I heard the sigh of a Battle Machine powering down, and stared in shock. What was he doing?! His stupid orange Battle Machine was blocking off the entrance! Ryo climbed out of the cockpit, carefully making his way to the ground. When he arrived, I saw why it had taken him so long to make his way to the bottom.

"Here," He said breathlessly, holding out a semi-transparent object that appeared to be a mask of some sort. "It's a fibrous oxy-filter," He said, voice slightly muffled by his own mask. "Put it on," He said, shaking the glorified oxygen mask in my face.

"Why?" I demanded.

"Because of the toxic gases emanating from that cavernous structure," Ryo said, giving me one of his '_duh'_ looks.

"What toxic…?"

"The dead animals piled in front of the mouth of the cave was what alerted me to the possibility, as was the chemical analysis I had done while I was inside Uplink. You've probably inhaled some already. Put this on before any more of the toxin enters your bloodstream," Ryo ordered, once again shaking the mask in my face.

"Fine," I said, pulling it on over my ears and settling the thing over my mouth and nose. Staring at the purple-haired techie, I sighed. "Satisfied?" I asked, glaring at Ryo with half-closed eyes.

Ryo nodded. "Yep. Come on. I left an opening behind Uplink's foot."

I followed, shaking my head in disgust. As if I had any other choice…

_**-Ryo-**_

Hikaru and I entered the cave cautiously, both of us acutely aware of how vulnerable we were. My only hope was that when the computer had mysteriously decided to go "kaput!", it had scrambled the Robots' data also. If that had happened, at least we had a fighting chance. Otherwise…

I didn't particularly want to think about the 'otherwise'.

"Where do you think the code is?" Hikaru muttered, glancing at me.

"This cave must go back for quite a distance," I murmured in reply. "We still have an extensive amount of terrain to traverse."

"Why can't you just talk like a normal person?!" Hikaru snapped, his voice echoing through the cave.

"Shhh!" I hissed, jumping to cover his mouth. "We don't know how structurally sound this cavern is."

"What does that mean?!" Hikaru howled.

We both froze as a cracking noise filled the air, along with the sound of several pebbles falling to the floor. "That's what I meant," I muttered. "We don't know if this thing will stay together for us while we're inside. In other words, no shouting, _please._"

"Right," Hikaru agreed, eyes wide.

I dug into one of the pockets I have in my suit, perfect for holding useful gadgets, and pulled out a penlight, shining it towards the back of the cave. "Let's go," I whispered.

Hikaru nodded and we both moved slowly forward.

Then I heard another cracking noise and froze, spinning around and shining my light in the direction we'd come from. My eyes focused on the cave's entrance just in time for me to see a large, dark shape plummet in front of the remaining light peeking in. A thunderous roar echoed through the cavern a second later and the floor bucked beneath our feet. Hikaru and I stumbled into each other, and he grabbed my shoulder.

"What's going on?!" He shouted over more rumbling that filled the air. But it wasn't rocks, it sounded more like…

"Robots!!" I shouted in reply. The rumbling continued, louder and more ominous. What… "No!" I screamed suddenly, realizing exactly what the Robots had in mind. Scrambling backwards, I grabbed Hikaru's arm and drug him frantically to the back of the cave, terror plunging a blade of ice into my heart.

"What are you--?!" Hikaru screamed as I shoved him as hard as I could and stumbled on top of him, throwing us both onto the hard ground as a thunderous roar filled the air and the ground jumped and rolled like an over-excited dog.

In a moment it was over, and the cave was silent. But a moment was all it had taken. We were now trapped-- cut off from our battle machines, water and any hope of rescue. The communications back at Exo-Force were down, and if we didn't bring back the code, the Robots would completely wipe out humanity… and it would be _all my fault_.

I'd never felt more terribly alone in my entire life, and having Hikaru beside me did nothing to improve my disposition. _If only he'd kept quiet… If only I'd moved Uplink to a better hiding spot… If only I'd been able to fix the Computer…If only the cave had been big enough to bring our battle machines… if only…_

_**-Hikaru-**_

Ryo was curled up on the ground like a baby, holding his head and generally being a useless blob of hopelessness. But I wasn't willing to admit defeat. Not yet. Not ever. "There's got to be a way out of here," I said, glancing around the cave. I turned to Ryo. "If there was an air current, wouldn't that mean there was an opening?"

"Yes. An opening the size of a pinhole, for all we would actually know," Ryo replied miserably, not looking up. I couldn't help feeling amazed that he wasn't talking like a dictionary for once. This was bad, really bad.

"You can't give up now, Ryo." I snapped.

"Can't give up? Can't give up?! When would have me give up-- when we're mere _moments _from death, is _that_ when you would have me give up?!" Ryo snapped, jumping to his feet. "Look, I don't care _who_ you think you are, but last time I checked, you weren't capable of moving tons of rock with your _bare hands_. We have no communications…" Ryo moaned. "No one even knows where we are… _**AND YOU THINK YOU HAVY ANY CONCEIVABLE RIGHT TO LECTURE ME ABOUT WHEN I CAN AND CANNOT 'GIVE UP'?!**_**" **Ryo shouted, shoving his face into mine, chest heaving.

"Yeah, you're annoying too," I said dismissively, turning to examine the back of the cave.

Ryo muttered something, stomped his foot, and then I heard what sounded like a sack of potatoes hitting the floor. I turned around and shook my head in disgust. The amazing, the incredible, the genius Ryo was crumpled on the ground like discarded laundry. "Ooh, why did I have to be so incredibly stupid?" He muttered, once again holding his head.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I didn't even tell Hitomi the coordinates," Ryo muttered. "And you yourself know that the computer is down-- even if they get it working, they'll probably never get the location of the code we're after in time to save us… we have three days."

I stared at him in shock. The quintessential play-it-safer, the techie who never let me fix my _own _Battle Machine, the only guy I knew who was afraid the Robots would attempt biological warfare-- _he _had neglected to inform anyone else where the coordinates were?! "How could you be so stupid?!" I demanded.

"Yeah, well, I know." Ryo snarled, standing and walking forward. "You think I don't know?! Do you have even the slightest conceivable notion of how completely and hopelessly dire our present situation is?!"

"Ryo, I--"

"_**DO YOU EVEN THINK AT ALL?!**_" Ryo shrieked in my face, shoving my shoulders. "Oh no, no, no. Hikaru expects me to do everything. _Hikaru _can run off to do whatever he wants because the techie's _ALWAYS _going to be there to _**SAVE YOUR BUTT!**__"_ Ryo shouted, turning around and shoving me again. "I'm _HUMAN_, _**OKAY?!**_" He screamed. "_**SO WHY DO YOU ALL EXPECT ME TO BE PERFECT?!**_"

"Us all? Ryo, there's no one else-"

"I don't ask for much," Ryo whimpered, once again slumping to the floor. "Just give me a little room to crash. I'm going to fail sometime. Just let me do it without _DYING!!_" He howled, curling up into a ball.

He was officially in his own little world and sounded like a nut. I didn't really want to, but felt like I should. Sighing, I crouched down next to him and put an arm around his shoulders, which were shaking for some reason. "It's okay," I muttered. "We'll make it through this. Do you hear me, Ryo?"

He didn't answer.

"Ryo?" I said again, leaning down to see his face. That was when I realized he was crying. _Crying!_ He was a brilliant engineer, inventor of all kinds of amazing Battle Machines, practically my _hero_, and here he was… crying! "It's okay," I muttered, trying to decide if it was awkward to keep hugging him, or if it would be more awkward should I suddenly let go and jump away.

Ryo sniffled. "I didn't realize you were the huggy type," He muttered.

I let go and jumped back. "Who are you talking about?!" I demanded defensively.

"I didn't mean that in a derogatory sense," Ryo exclaimed, glancing up. "Really, I didn't."

"Yeah, well you meant it in the teasing sense," I growled.

"Not really, it was just a spoken thought. It wasn't condemning or amused, simply an observation," Ryo replied.

"If you say so…" I muttered, eyeing him warily. I never trust him when he talks with those big words, mostly because I don't quite know what he's saying. Unfortunately, he talks with big words most of the time, even during diva tantrums, apparently. I just hoped we didn't have a 'diva tantrum' visit again any time soon, or we'd never get out of here.

We had a slim enough chance as it was.

* * *

A/N: Hah! The climax arrives! Our protagonists are trapped! How will they get out? _Will_ they get out? Or... will the author fall prone to writer's block and leave them trapped 'til 2076?! Only time will tell... yeah. Really, if you're still reading, you MUST go to LEGO's website, look up exo-force, read the stuff and join me in my boycott! It's only like six hours out of your life to edit, publish, and learn about them-- and not necessarily in that order!!--six hours isn't that much time, really! compared to sixty years?! Join my backhanded boycott-- together we will be victorious!! (oh yeah, and PM if you figure out what I meant by victorious. I'm not exactly sure what I was saying there...)


	4. A Way Out

**Chapter 4: A Way Out**

**_-Ryo-_**

Holding my head so tightly I could feel my heartbeat, I focused, straining for an idea. How I wished I knew how the brain worked-- then maybe I could get my mind to think harder. There _had_ to be a way to get out of here-- there _had_ to! The entire human race depended on my ability to _think_.

Meanwhile, Hikaru was messing with the rocks at the front of the cave.

I found myself wishing they would shift and fall on him. Then, shaking my head, I forced the idea out of my head. _You need to focus,_ I told myself. _No shifting rocks on Hikaru. Disturbing the structure could cause another cave-in. _Suddenly, I realized something. _The structure… We could tunnel through a sturdy section, except… _I moaned. _Except we've nothing to tunnel _with_, nothing at all._

Then an idea hit me. I patted one of my pockets to assure myself that it was still there and grinned. Fumbling on the ground for the small object on the floor, I scooped up the light and chuckled.

I flicked off my penlight.

"Hey, whoa! Ryo, why did you turn that off?"

"I'm preserving energy," I answered, digging into my pockets frantically. _Come on, come on…_ I thought. "Hah!" I crowed, pulling out a small coil and a few other components. Quickly I pulled the penlight apart, working by feel. Not the easiest thing to do wearing gloves. When I got down to the really small stuff, I finally pulled them off, risking some sort of shock, and/or acid poisoning. If I died, blame it on Hikaru and his stubborn tendency to work alone.

"What are you doing?" Hikaru demanded, scuffling along the floor. "Whoa!" A skritch and a thud signaled the blue-haired pilot's rapid descent. "Ouch! Stupid rock."

"I'm _working,_" I answered. A small buzz and flicker of blue sparked. "Ow! Ugh…" I shook my hand wincing at the numb feeling spreading over my palm.

"Was that electricity? What are you doing?" Hikaru demanded, scuffling closer.

"Stay back! I can't see where you are, and I can't have you step on any of these components," I urged, twisting the annoying electrofoil node onto what used to be the penlight.

"Why don't you just turn on the stupid penlight?" Hikaru demanded.

"Because I've cannibalized the '_stupid penlight'_, that's why," I answered.

"Fine. I'll just sit down," Some scuffling and a clink. "Oops, land on your stuff… I don't think it's broken…"

"Oh, give that here, please!" I said. "It rolled away."

Hikaru pressed the magnification lens into my hand. "Here," He said. "Hurry up."

"No, I thought I'd take all day," I snapped. "I don't know, I kind of like being trapped in a cave without food, water or steady air flow."

"Okay, okay. You don't have to get snappy," Hikaru muttered.

"And you don't have to be bossy," I replied. "I'm working as fast as I" --another charge of electricity jolted up my arm-- "Ouch! I'm working as fast as I can," I finished.

"Careful. You okay?" Hikaru asked.

"I'm fine," I lied, massaging my right hand gently. It was already numb, after just two shocks. I could barely move it.

_**-Hikaru-**_

I wondered what he was doing. Doesn't it bug you when you're sitting there patiently, waiting for someone to tell you what they're doing and offer to let you help, but instead they just work quietly, pointedly ignoring you? That's exactly what Ryo was doing. He was mad at me, I was sure. But I wasn't exactly sure _why._ I hadn't done anything to him, had I? He was the one who'd yelled, thrown screwdrivers, called me stupid…

I'm not stupid. I could help him. Instead, he ignored the fact that I had nothing better to do, and let me listen to the sounds of him tinker with who-knows-what.

Another flash of blue crackled the air for a moment, and Ryo gasped, dropping his thing.

"You sure you're okay?" I asked.

"I'm fine," Ryo answered, voice slightly strained. He fumbled around on the floor, picking up his little device and dropping it again.

"You sure?" I asked again.

"Hikaru…" Ryo sighed, sounding frustrated. My question was wearing on his patience, but why? Usually he _likes_ people to pay attention to him. Because he's the behind-the-scenes man who usually gets no credit. He doesn't usually have the machines with the best firepower, or the fastest, or…well, anything like that, even though he builds and designs a lot of them. So his avoiding my concern wasn't normal.

He fumbled the device again, and it hit the floor. "Crap!" He snapped, slamming something-- his hand?-- on something else--his leg, maybe. I almost fell over, and I was _sitting_. Ryo didn't swear, not even half-baked swear words like 'crap'. I didn't even know he _knew_ swear words. What the heck?!

"Ryo, what's wrong?" I demanded.

"_Nothing,_" Ryo snarled. Another blue flash crackled on his hand as he reached to pick it up again. In the quick flash of light, I realized he was using his _left_ hand to pick it up. Weird. Ryo's not left-handed, so why…?

I had an idea then. "Ryo, let me help," I said. "I may not be as good as you, but I _can_ do a few things. Just tell me what to do," I urged.

"Fine," Ryo said wearily. "Here, take it," He said, shoving the strange conglomeration of who-knows-what into my hand.

"Okay, so… what do I do?" I asked.

"Take this magnification lens, and affix it to the anterior--"

"Ryo, I don't talk tech-speak," I said. "Just use plain language… please."

"Okay," Ryo said slowly. "Take the _little_ thing you have in your hand-- the _little round_ thing, and carefully put it on the _little_ hole in the front of the _big_ thing."

"Much better," I said, quickly doing as he'd directed. "Okay, now what?"

"_Very_ carefully, _twist_ the little thing until it _stays in place_," Ryo said slowly.

I twisted "very carefully", and felt a little click as it fell into a groove of some sort. "And now what?" I asked.

"_Very_ carefully, take this _little wire coil_ and _very carefully_ put it _inside_ the _big_ thing, _in_ the _big hole_. _Don't_ _bend_ the _wire_, and be very, _very_ careful…"

This went on for a long time.

* * *

"And now what?" I asked.

"Turn it on," Ryo said bluntly.

"Oh, okay..." I muttered, reaching for the button. "Should I do it _very carefully?"_

"Not here!" Ryo exclaimed. "It's a laser!"

"A _what?!_" I demanded. "What do we need a laser for?!"

"Um, I don't know, to _drill_ out of here?" Ryo snapped.

_I'd rather have the penlight,_ I thought to myself. But I knew better than to say so.

"So, we're drilling out?"

"First we have to find a stable place to tunnel," Ryo said. "But you'll have to do the tunneling," he muttered.

"Why?" I asked.

"I can't use my hands," Ryo answered, somewhat miffed.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because I wasn't wearing gloves!" Ryo snapped.

"Neither was I!" I exclaimed.

"But you only got shocked once," Ryo replied.

I winced, remembering the scrabbling claws of pain that had crawled up my arm that one time. It'd taken Ryo three minutes to convince me to keep working after that. "Okay, fine. How do we know what's secure?"

Ryo took a deep breath. "We don't," He said. "That's why I'll be the one looking."

"You?! If _you_ look, what happens if you find a spot that's really unstable?!" I demanded. "And it collapses?!"

"That's why I'm the best choice," Ryo answered. "I can't use my hands. So, you have to stay _uninjured_ until we finish tunneling. It's only logical, Hikaru. Surely you would know that."

I did, but I didn't really _want_ to know… Somehow it didn't feel right, letting him put himself in danger. But once Ryo's latched on to an idea, you can't pull him away from it. It'd be like separating…um, two things stuck together with ultra-powerful super-glue? I really didn't have a choice in the matter. That's what I told myself, and _kept_ telling myself as Ryo moved along the wall, carefully searching. Cautiously walking into danger for both our sakes…

So why did it feel like he was only doing it for me?

A/N: ooh... will they get out? Will Ryo die? Does anyone care?! Sorry for the obnoxious author notes, it's just that no one's reading this anyway and I got carried away. (correction-- no one besides Asterisk78. Or, no one's REVIEWING... how do I know if you're reading if you don't review, eh? eh?!)


	5. Escape!

**Chapter 5: Escape!**

_**-Hikaru-**_

"I found it!" Ryo whispered, exultation obvious even in his whisper. "This should work! If we drill our way through here to the outside, it should be safe." He said.

"I wish Takeshi was here," I muttered, walking over. "He knows how this whole tunnel, mining thing works better than I do."

"Well, Takeshi isn't here," Ryo insisted. "Now come on! We can get out of here!"

"Okay, stay back, 'cause I'm not sure how this thing works," I muttered, flicking the laser on. It sliced into the rock, and soon part of it crumbled down to the floor, one of the chunks landing on my toe. "Ouch!" I exclaimed, flicking it off. "We should move this rock," I suggested, feeling around on the floor to find the chunks. Instead, I grabbed something with longish stringy hair.

"Ow! Hikaru, that hurt!" Ryo exclaimed. "We don't have to remove my hair to get out of here!"

"Sorry," I muttered. "I didn't mean to."

"I've got the rocks cleared out of there," Ryo said after a moment. "Go ahead."

So I flicked the laser on and continued to slice into the wall…

* * *

_**-Ryo-**_

It took at least five hours of backbreaking, exhausting, sweltering work to get a six-foot extension of tunnel all cleared out. By that time, my hands were feeling much better, so I volunteered to do some of the tunneling, but it still took a lot of convincing to get Hikaru to agree. I don't know why, it was fairly obvious that Hikaru was exhausted, but for some reason he seemed to think _he_ should be the one to do all the work. Don't ask me why, I'm still trying to figure it out. Finally I managed to convince him to let me work, and we continued tunneling.

It was about twelve hours later when we finally emerged from inside, battered and bruised, basking in the glow of triumph. I glanced around to locate our battle machines and flipped out.

"What the--?! Noooo!! Why, why, why?!" I shrieked, falling onto my knees.

Hikaru glanced around. "What? What… oh."

"Yeah, 'oh,' " I snapped. "Crushed! Ruined! Why?! Why God, why?! Why not the Silent Strike?! Or even a Robot, or…anything else? Why, why Uplink?!"

_**-Hikaru-**_

I usually don't sympathize with Ryo and his quirky tendency to treat his battle machines like living beings, but I could tell this was a big deal. Uplink was practically his best friend. When I'd found out Ryo had kept Uplink back from the scrap pile, I told Sensei Keiken. Funny thing was, Sensei already knew about it. But he also knew how much Ryo loved that Battle Machine.

"Hey, um… it's okay, it's just a battle machine," I said, not sure what else I could say.

"Just a… just a… How can you say that?!" Ryo cried, burying his face in his hands. "First the Mobile Defense Tank, now this-- I had to build a second Uplink, 'cause the first one was destroyed, you know," He snapped. "And I've managed to keep this one safe, until… now… Why?! Why, why, why?!"

"Um, we never did find the code," I said.

"Then go look," Ryo snapped.

"I don't have a light," I said.

Ryo dug into his pocket, frowned and glanced at Uplink. "Sorry, I've got nothing."

"Ryo, come on," I urged, "We need to focus. Really. We can get out of this, and you can make another Uplink, and…"

Ryo sighed. "Right. Think… if I were a code, where would I hide?"

I frowned. "How about if you were a penlight?"

"Hah!" Ryo crowed, clambering over to the Silent Strike, which was knocked over and pretty well mashed up too. But not bashed into useless scrap metal, like Uplink was. He dug around in the decimated spot that used to be my cockpit, then hopped out waving a penlight. "In case a techie needs to get into the wiring," he called, dashing over. "Built-in. Glad it wasn't crushed," he gasped breathlessly.

"Great," I said, snatching the penlight. "Let's go."

Ryo frowned. "I think I'll stay out here and watch out for robots," he said. "I mean, I wouldn't want to get trapped a second time."

I shook my head, sighing. "Whatever," I said, shrugging. Ducking, I crawled back through the tunnel.

* * *

**_-Ryo-_**

I twiddled my thumbs for about five minutes, coughed, talked to myself and generally tried to keep my mind off of Uplink… or what was left of him--it. Sighing, I leaned against the rock face and stared up at the moon peeking over the ridge. I wondered what time it was, and glanced over at the battle machines that would have told me if they hadn't been destroyed.

It was so frustrating! Why had the robots destroyed perfectly good battle machines? Arrg…

"Hey! Ryo!" Hikaru called, crawling out of the tunnel, lugging the golden magnetic-thing the code was written on. "Got it!" He exclaimed, grinning.

"Yeah," I agreed, trying to force a smile. I must have looked sick, because Hikaru frowned.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I was just thinking-- how long do you think it'll take for us to walk back?" I asked.

Hikaru sighed. "I have no idea. And who's to say we won't get lost?"

I glanced at his Silent Strike. "Hold on a sec," I said, hopping over and digging into the cockpit again. "hah!" I crowed, hefting what I'd been hoping to find.

"And that is…?" Hikaru said slowly, fishing for an answer.

"GPS," I answered triumphantly. "I'll just plug in the Golden City's coordinates and…" I punched in the numbers. "Hah! We've got a bearing-- that direction!" I said, pointing.

"Yes!" Hikaru crowed. We high-fived, then trudged off together in the direction of the Golden City.

* * *

A/N: Badumbumbum... I haven't updated this in forever. I'm not really sure why, I think I just forgot... I have like three more chapters... weird. Anyway, thanks for the reviews, Asterisk! keep it up! (no more kooky names, please...)


	6. Things Get Worse Again

**Chapter 6: Things Get Worse Again**

_**-Ryo-**_

About ten minutes later, we weren't so positive. "You know," Hikaru commented, "This ridge looked a lot less steep from inside the silent strike."

I sighed. "We'll have to climb it," I said, grabbing for a handhold, straining my eyes to see ahead in the dim light of the waning moon.

"Wish we had a full moon," Hikaru commented.

"Sunrise should be soon," I said, "And then you'll wish it was still night." Then, turning to the cliff, we both started climbing.

"You do realize we're completely defenseless," Hikaru said a moment later, as we both clung to the rock crag about ten feet above flat ground.

"No, I didn't," I snorted.

"Sorry," Hikaru muttered. "I was just thinking that there are a lot of dangerous animals- not to mention robots- in the jungle."

"Let's focus on making it through the desert, first," I suggested, grunting as I pulled myself up to another handhold, which crumbled beneath my hand. I swung back, hanging by my right hand, my right foot jamming onto a foothold. Unfortunately, it already had a foot.

"Ow! Ryo!" Hikaru complained, moving his foot, which just made things worse, because now I was swinging midair with only one handhold.

One handhold that happened to be crumbling beneath the weight of my body. "Hikaru!" I yelped, desperately trying to jam my foot back into his foothold.

"Get off!" Hikaru snapped, shoving my right shoulder.

It was enough to make the handhold give way, and as it began to crumble, I desperately swung my arms out to try and get another handhold. My left hand found one, but it broke off with a crack, and just like that, I was falling…

"Ryo!" Hikaru shouted, spinning around, eyes wide. "NO!" he screamed.

I closed my eyes and inwardly steeled myself for crushed bones and a high possibility of death. You know, I've always heard people have their 'life flash before their eyes', but all I could think was _Guess I'll never get to build the next battle machine the computer reveals…_ Then with a stunning crack, a bolt of pain raced through my body, and I knew nothing more…

**_-Hikaru- _**

I watched in sickened horror as Ryo's body hit the ground with a thud, a dull crack reaching my ears even from twenty-or-so feet above him. I closed my eyes for a moment, then scrambled back down the cliff as fast as I could. Which, mind you, was nowhere near as fast as a battle machine could have, but still pretty darn speedy. I dropped to the ground and raced over to where Ryo lay, completely still. I didn't have a lot of first-aid training, but I knew enough to take his pulse.

His heart was still beating, but his head was bleeding from the back somewhere, and I didn't dare move him. Turning back to the cliff, I frowned, knowing now more than ever I had to get to the Golden City. I grabbed Ryo's GPS thing, and almost screamed in frustration. It must have hit the ground pretty hard when Ryo landed, because the screen was blank and cracked. There was no way it was getting me- or Ryo- any closer to safety and medical treatment. The sun had risen and seemed to be glaring at Ryo and I from just over the ridge at the other side of the gully we were in. I turned back, staring at Uplink. Maybe…

* * *

**_-Ryo-_**

Heat. Light. I scrunched my eyes closed, but now the light just looked red with little yellow flashes. A dull ache throbbed from my back, and my head was aching like someone had jolted it with electricity. Moaning, I tried to lift my arm and block the light, but a twinge raced down my back, and the muscles in my back contracted, cramped, forcing my eyes open. I gasped at the sudden pain, and realized my back was arched in the wrong spot… or rather, wasn't arched where there was supposed to be an arch. I heard some scuffling, and then a shadow crossed my face, I glanced up at Hikaru and smiled weakly. "Hey," I murmured, surprised at the effort it took to speak.

"Yeah," Hikaru said, frowning and fiddling with something.

"What…is…that?" I asked, moving my head to get a better look and wincing at the twinge of protest my back sent crawling up my spine.

"Communicator," He said. "Thought I'd try one more time. It's funny, I have a signal."

"Then say something, for heaven's sake!" I barked, dragging in a deep breath at the pain in my back I'd just caused.

"Hello? Can anyone read me? Hello? Help!" Hikaru shouted into the communicator. A faint crackle was heard, and I smiled.

"Sounds like communications might be back up," I whispered.

"Yup," Hikaru agreed, frowning at the communicator. "Hey! Can't you hear me?" He shouted again, shaking the communicator.

_"Hold on guys," _came a voice from the communicator, heavy with static, but easily recognizable. "_Where are you?_"

"Sensei Keiken, you're back!" Hikaru cried with relief. Then, frowning he glanced around and answered Sensei's question. "I don't know where we are!" Hikaru shouted. "Can you track the communicator?" I frowned, wondering why Hikaru was shouting. The thing was going to pick up his voice anyway, after all.

_"Track your communicator? Why? What happened to your battle machines?" _Sensei Keiken asked.

"Totaled," Hikaru replied, glancing back at Uplink and Stealth Hunter. "And can you bring a medic or two?"

_"Medic… Who's hurt? Ryo?" _Sensei Keiken asked, voice sounding nervous.

"Um, yeah," Hikaru answered. "He kind of, well, hurt himself."

"_How is he?"_ Sensei asked.

"Surviving," I said loudly, wincing.

"He fell and, well, I think he broke something," Hikaru answered Sensei's question, frowning at my interruption.

"_Several_ somethings," I clarified.

"He broke _several somethings_," Hikaru corrected himself, shooting an irritated glare in my direction.

_"We'll send a retrieval team," _Sensei Keiken promised. _"I'm sorry," _he said, signing off.

"What did he mean, sorry?" Hikaru asked a moment later. "I mean, it wasn't his fault… was it?"

I frowned. "I don't know," I answered.

"You're taking this whole broken bones thing pretty well," Hikaru commented a moment later.

"I don't think they're really broken," I admitted. "I just thought it would get them here faster, and I've got a killer headache."

"That's not very surprising," Hikaru said, folding his arms.

"Do you think you could move a little more to the left?" I asked, trying to scoot to the right before giving up.

Hikaru shrugged and moved over. "Why?" he asked.

"Thanks. The sun was kind of killing my eyes," I explained, glad his shadow was blocking the light again.

"And you can't move… why?" He demanded irritably, switching from one foot to the other.

"Because it hurts," I replied, glaring at him.

Hikaru's eyes narrowed. "I thought you said nothing was-"

"Just because nothing's broken doesn't mean I'm not in pain!" I shouted, wincing.

Hikaru's eyes softened. "Oh," he said, "I didn't know."

I sighed. "Sorry."

Hikaru glanced up at the cliff, and his eyes widened. "_Damn_," he whispered.

"Hey," I snapped, "Sensei Keiken doesn't allow potty mouths." Without replying, Hikaru reached down and grabbed me, hoisting me into some sort of piggyback type of carry. Pain ran kicking and screaming up and down my spine, and my body seized up, twitching uncontrollably. "You'd better have a decent excuse for doing that," I panted, desperately fighting the urge to scream in agony.

Hikaru continued to ignore me, instead running for the tunnel we'd carved from the cave. When we were a few feet from the entrance, he stopped suddenly, flipping me over his head. I landed heavily, head striking the ground hard. I screamed before I could stop myself, pain overloading my senses. "Hikaru!" I gasped, "What are you…" I stared up in horror, realizing what had him acting this way. "Iron condors," I moaned.

Hikaru nodded, dragging me back into the tunnel. Once inside, he stopped and knelt by me, glancing outside with worry. "I don't think they saw us," he said. Then, turning to look at me, he sighed. "Sorry," he apologized, "Are you okay?"

I narrowed my eyes. "Oh yes, Hikaru. I suffer trauma to my Central Nervous System on a regular basis. You don't have to worry about me."

Hikaru rolled his eyes. "Cut the sarcasm. Can you move your arms and legs?"

I glanced down and wiggled my fingers, then moved my feet around. "I'm not going to attempt anything else," I told him firmly.

"Fine by me," Hikaru replied, moving closer to the opening and squinting, trying to see out.

"If you can see them…" I began.

"I know, I know, they can see me. I _have_ been trained as a battle pilot, you know," he snapped.

"Actually, I was going to say, if you can see them, tell me if they're leaving or fixing to stay awhile," I said.

"Why?" Hikaru asked.

"Because, if they're going to stay for awhile, I'll go out there and lure them away," I answered.

Hikaru glanced at me, frowning. The dim light made his face seem more serious than normal. "I can't let you do that," he said.

"There's no way I'd be able to escape like this," I pointed out. "And if they believe you're dead…"

"We _need_ you, Ryo," Hikaru replied. "You're the one who keeps Exo-Force together. We wouldn't _be_ Exo-Force without your battle machines."

"I don't invent the models anymore, I just put them together, and anyone can do that," I argued.

"That's not true!" Hikaru snarled. "Don't go all modest on me now!"

"Hikaru, in any case, I'm not planning on letting them take me alive," I said. "The least you could do is make it count."

"Who says they'll take you at all?" he snapped. "Maybe the retrieval team will make it in time!"

My eyes widened. "Oh… the retrieval team! No! They're not prepared for a whole squad of Iron Condors!"

"They can handle it," Hikaru insisted.

I sighed, closing my eyes. "I sure hope you're right," I murmured, letting myself relax into the dark, suffocating blanket of unconsciousness.

* * *

A/N: How many times must I apologize for not updating this poor story? I keep forgetting... Well, I will forget no more! The next chapter will be the last, and I shall post it immediately after this one! Ha!


	7. Conclusion

**Chapter 7: Conclusion**

**_-Hikaru-_**

I glanced down at Ryo and sighed, wishing I hadn't shoved him back when we were up on the cliff. I mean, even though he hadn't said anything about it, he was being downright nasty to me. And it had been an _accident!_ Sighing, I glanced out and saw the Iron condors turning around and flying in the direction of the Golden City. "Retrieval team," I muttered. "Come on, you'd better make it." I glanced down at Ryo and wished I knew what to do, to apologize, that is. I mean, we weren't the best of friends to begin with, and it just seemed this whole thing made communication even more tense between the two of us.

Sighing, I leaned against the wall and waited… and waited…and waited…

* * *

My head jerked up, and I realized I'd fallen asleep. Had someone called my name?

"Hikaru!"

I crawled to the edge of the tunnel and jumped out. "Yeah?" I yelled, glancing around.

"There you are!" Takeshi shouted, running over. "Where's Ryo?"

"In there," I answered, pointing.

Takeshi nodded. "I'll help you get him out."

Together the two of us carried him out and over to where the medics were waiting, where we set him down a _lot_ more gently than I had when we'd retreated to the tunnel for cover.

As the medics checked him out, I asked Takeshi what happened back at the Golden City. Takeshi shrugged. "Sensei Keiken said he'd explain when you and Ryo got back- as to what he's explaining about, I haven't a clue," he said, shaking his head.

"Okay then," I said. "Are we going?"

"Well, since the medics have already loaded Ryo into the Hybrid Rescue Tank, and they're only waiting for you to get in, I'd say yes," Takeshi snorted.

"Ha, very funny," I grinned, jogging over and hopping into the battle machine. Very soon, I would be back at the Golden City, and I would figure out what had happened to communications and stuff.

If everything went well.

* * *

Fortunately, everything _did_ go well, and we got to the Golden City without incident. Then, however, I had to wait for what seemed like centuries until Ryo was _up and running_, to use technician-talk. Seriously, the guys might as well be saying 'we rebooted his systems'! It's almost funny, except that it's just a little too nerdy for that.

Anyway, Ryo was bouncing around and itching to get working on some battle machine or new weapon or something, and I was itching to find out what Sensei Keiken knew that we didn't. And so we walked into the briefing room together.

Sensei Keiken was standing in front of just about every person who was in Exo-Force. Except, maybe, the people who were on perimeter defense or security. The room was _packed._ In fact, it was so packed that Ryo started to back out of the room. "Hikaru?" he whispered, "I really wanna go check on my lab. Could you just tell me what he says whenever we see each other next? I'm almost at a breakthrough for the slip-stream epicenter translation on the newest machine, and I just thought of something that should make the-"

Just then, Sensei Keiken glanced at us, and motioned for the two of us to come up.

Ryo sighed, his shoulders slumping. "Drat," he whispered.

"I suppose, out of all of the pilots here, you two deserve the most heartfelt apology," Sensei Keiken said.

I was confused, and from the looks of it, so was Ryo.

**_-Ryo-_**

"A heartfelt apology?" Hikaru asked, sounding baffled.

I wished Sensei would get his 'heartfelt apology' over with so I could make sure my files were still accurate. Someone had said something about all the files being okay while I was getting checked on in the sickroom, but he was just a medic- WHAT WOULD HE KNOW? These equations and specs had to be exactly perfect or else we'd waste tons of work, and time, and tools and equipment, and… Well, basically, I didn't trust anyone but myself (or Sensei Keiken) to know exactly what these 'okay' files would look like.

"There was never a real emergency," Sensei Keiken said. "I planned a worst-case scenario in which the computer systems would be shut down by the robots. However, should a real threat present itself, the computer would return to normal."

Hikaru frowned. "So… we didn't need the code after all?"

Sensei Keiken frowned. "Well, the code could have caused a reboot of the computer in real life, but in the scenario, no, it would have no effect."

That was interesting. I'd have to remember that- those codes could cause a reboot for an overrun and pretty well broken-down computer. "So what you're saying is if we'd waited for the robots to attack, like everyone else did, the Golden City would have been fine, right?"

Sensei Keiken nodded.

"That's a relief!" I exclaimed, glad that the existence of the human race hadn't _really_ rested on the shoulders of an Exo-Force pilot and engineer.

"I second that," Hikaru agreed. Then he frowned. "Why didn't you come and get us right away then?" he asked.

"We didn't know where you were, remember?" Hitomi snapped. "And because those battle machines were supposed to be _scrapped_-" here she tossed me a cold glare, "they didn't have a tracking chip."

"Sorry about that," I said, not really meaning it. I mean, it was _Uplink_! Even if I did have the Hybrid Rescue Tank to work with now, that battle machine would always be my favorite.

Sensei keiken glanced at Hikaru and I. "I hope you two learned a little something about teamwork while you were out there. Then at least it wasn't a total waste."

I thought back to the shouting match, the robot sabotage, the penlight laser, the cliffhanging disaster and the Iron Condor freak-out. "Yes, Sensei." I said, a smile starting.

Hikaru's eyes kind of bugged out, then he figured it out too. "Yes, we did learn a _lot_ about teamwork!" he agreed.

I turned and grinned at Hikaru. "I think we learned that people don't think, work, or act in the same way- and that's what makes them a valuable member of the team."

Hikaru shrugged. "That… and sometimes you _should_ humor the techie."

I couldn't help laughing.

* * *

A/N: The end! Sorry for the long wait...


End file.
